Wall

Wall

Fabiana Castillo Joalbert Vetancourt

A wall is a vertical structure, usually solid, that defines and sometimes protects an area. There are three principal types of structural walls: building walls, exterior boundary walls, and retaining walls.
 * DEFINITION**

Structure plays a significant architectural role and the structural elements of a building (the walls, the frame, the foundation) are the parts that hold it together, as opposed to elements that enclose or decorate it.
 * SIGNIFICANT ARCHITECTURAL ROLE**

There are a surprisingly large number of modes by which structure enriches architecture the most important being to assist the realization of the design concept.
 * STRUCTURE ENRICHES ARCHITECTURE**

In the other hand, the emergence of architecture is associated with the idea of shelter, which predominates in primitive societies. In this way, maybe, the wall is one of the first elements of architecture from ancient times to the protection of man.
 * ONE OF THE FIRST ARCHITECTURE’S ELEMENTS**

Since its inception, the walls were used to define spaces without the need for other elements, to separate the interior from exterior, to shelter the man from the nature. However, in antiquity, the walls are also used to prevent land invasions and make separations.
 * CHARACTERISTICS**
 * • Form is usually prismatic horizontal and vertical.
 * • Built with different materials.
 * • Texture depending on the material used.
 * • Walls, in all likelihood, will also be carefully integrated with building function.

According to their function, walls can be classified into: Those are wall systems built to support loads. Some are pre-manufactured in controlled environments, and others are constructed on site.
 * STRUCTURAL WALL SYSTEM**

Wall for the purpose of separating or dividing rooms. Partition walls are usually not load-bearing. May also be constructed from concrete, including pre-cast concrete blocks, drywall or varieties of glass.
 * PARTITION WALL**

Retaining walls are a special type of wall that may be either external to a building or part of a building that serves to provide a barrier to the movement of earth, stone or water.
 * RETAINING WALL**

Special laws often govern walls shared by neighboring properties. Typically, one neighbor cannot alter the common wall if it is likely to affect the building or property on the other side.
 * SHARED WALL**